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S11: Hoover Dam: Moving the Concrete

On June 6, 1933, workers began pouring concrete to build what would become the face of the dam. To move the concrete across the construction site, Chief Engineer Frank Crowe designed a network of cableways to carry material. Pretty soon, a cable would deliver a 20-ton bucket of concrete every 78 seconds!

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Rising more than 700 feet above the raging waters of the Colorado River, Hoover Dam was called one of the greatest engineering works in history. 5,000 working men and their families came to live in the Nevada desert, all in search of a paycheck. The work was extremely dangerous, and done mostly without modern safety precautions.

On June 6, 1933, workers began pouring concrete to build what would become the face of the dam. To move the concrete across the construction site, Chief Engineer Frank Crowe designed a network of cableways to carry material. Pretty soon, a cable would deliver a 20-ton bucket of concrete every 78 seconds!

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